Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-07
THE CATTLE INDUSTRY.
W. E. Hughes 20 the Dallas Con-
yention on Cattle Ranch
ing in Texas.
The Ruinous Legislation of the Past.
Depression of the Business-The
Needs OF the Industry.
The Raj Gilman of the PIains il Fast
Passing away" - "Leavs Natural
Forces Free TO Operate"

| a different position. particularly so lar as
the range cattle business is concerned,
from what it did few years sgo, as most
OF you know to your cost.
| The business is depressed. The causes
of such depression are various. The pres
ert condition of the business in this state
! is, in our opinion. largely owing to local
causes, the principal OF which are the
onerous and unjust burdens imposed by
riqhtful or assumed state authority If
those imposed by the rishtful authority OF
the state have been imposed by constitu-
tional laws (Which we question:, we
maintain that those laws are unwise and
hurtful, and wide departure from those
customs and usageS under which your
interests have grown. Time and expert
ence have solved many of the questions
formerly at issue, and much that was
streDuously disputed few years ago is
now conceded.
| 1t is fact that the cattle industry of
Texas is badly crippled, and it is ap-
parent that it cannot prosper in its
present form, under present burdens. 1t
| is also fact that the business cannot be
suddenly converted from the range to the
domestic (stock farm system, though
few doubt that it will become a domestic
system in time. 1t is fact, as you gen
tlemen know, that at least one-half of
the men who have been engaged in the
range cattle business in this state for the
past five years are now hopelessly bank
rupt. 1t is also fact, as evidenced over
! the signatures of ten OF the county
judges of this state, lately in convention,
that in the districts where lately
the cattle industry existed and -four
ished, and from which it has been, in the
main, expelled, agriculture is failure,
and 10000 people are now wanting bread,
and must have state aid to subsiSt. What
lesson does this teach? 1t teaches, as |
think, that. as state policy,.i it is wise to
aid dominant and valuable industry in
harmony with its surroundings, leaving
time and the natural laws of growth and
development to work changes in indus
tries as surroundings change. 1t also
teaches, | think, that while legislation
may expel one industry adapted TO the
I other not so adapted and that such at
ttempts must result in losses to the indi-
I vidual and the state.
as it is of the natural world, and each in
dustry indicates stage in social pro-
gress SUGGESTIONS come as surround
ings are adapted to them-not before.
We dc not wish here to be understood
as asserting that the present rainless dis
trict wherein are now so, 900 people SUI
fering from failure of crops, may not be
an agricultural one. An unoccupied
| n
climate and thin grasses upon light soils
may well support grazing industry with
profit to the state; while agricultural
pursuits might and would require
moisture, fuel, communication anG
many of the attendants of
more advanced civilization, to even exist
Climates change; steel rails and tele
graphic wires bring electric currents
transportation facilities provide commu
nication and fuel; passing engines, tree:
planted by the settlers hands and the
upturned soil and growing crop of the
pioneer bring moisture. In time the en-
tire active surrounding forces art
changed, and, by natural laws, one in
dustry has succeeded another with
gain, instead of loss to the state.
Without further pursuing this line 0
|
at the Texas ranchmsn-the pioneer O
the cattle industry of Texas.
THE RANCHMAN.
The ranChman, as we view him, has
been an important factor in the settle
ment, development and civilization of the
state. His domain was that arid, tree.
less stretch of country extending from
the Gulf coast, north and south, across
I
ments, to surroundings, was the law OF
his existence, as it is the law of all ami
mate things.
The environment best suited to him
was the vast grazing belts, the temporary
use of which, in the beginning, was to be
had for the occupancy. Dry climates
and thin soils that did not early invite
the agriculturist, where the thin grasses
grew and cured upon the stalk, were es-
pecially adapted to his wants. Given the
usufruct of such lands, the crop of grass
that otherwise wasted and went annually
to decay, and it was possible for
the pioneer rerchman to fulfill his
mission in the social organization.
He was civilizer, a benefactor.
If be did not make two blades
of grass grow where one grew before, by
uti izing and saving from waste those
already grown, he furnished food for
thousands and added materially to state
and national wealth. He caused the des-
erts, plains and waste places, while await
ing the husbandman's hand, to contribute
to the food supply of the world.
The ranchman of the plains was not to
be permanency. He never so consid-
cred himself His mission was to precede
the agriculturist and stock farmer, and
until changed order of things should
make agriculture profitable, or possible,
1t was his to establish and msintaiu, with
profit to the state, valuable industry
Il He represented, as it were, an era-an
epCch-a step IN social progress. In
fact, every weapon, tool or dwelling of
man, every occupation, trade or calling
indicates certain Stage in civilization.
The rough arrow head of the savage fash
Toned without tools from the rock, the
huntsman's rude shelter OF dried skins,
the shepherds tent, the ranchman's
dugout, the plow aud the farmhouse of
the agricnlturist, all bespeak the age,
the physical characteristics of the sur
roundings.
Nature always does her very best. Each
stage has the very best weapons, tools,
dwellings and callings the surroundings
will admit Of.
Science, philosophy, history and our